Synopsis

Born a slave in 1790 in the Virginia Panhandle Sarah, a beautiful woman, marries a supposedly free Negro, Lewis, whom she hopes will earn her freedom. Her husband is taken back to Kentucky from where he escaped and Sarah is sold to a neighbour who mistreats her. She is forced to escape with her three youngest children through the Ohio wilderness and arrives in Simcoe, Upper Canada in 1822. She keeps house for a young Scotsman, Duncan Campbell, by whom she has a son.

As Simcoe grows from a village to a prosperous town under Campbell’s leadership, Sarah and her children flourish as does the growing black community of escaped slaves. Her son-in-law, George Smith or the Black Pimpernel, who helps her older black children escape to Canada, carries on his work for the Underground from Simcoe. Faced with many challenges, including American invasion and the reintroduction of slavery at the time of the Canadian rebellion, Sarah Lewis shows courage and resourcefulness.

Sarah’s Journey is not just escape to freedom but an adventurous passage through life. Her son by Duncan Campbell, hides his background and becomes one of the richest men in New York City; his untimely death leads to the discovery of his mother’s story.